


One Night a Year

by Fantasorie



Series: Halloweened [1]
Category: Downton Abbey
Genre: AU, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-31
Updated: 2013-10-31
Packaged: 2017-12-31 01:13:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1025577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fantasorie/pseuds/Fantasorie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Halloween changes Elsie Hughes.  Can Charles handle it when she pulls him into a cupboard and reveals herself to him?</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Night a Year

**Author's Note:**

> I don't even know. I really don't.

 

 

 

“Charles, please,” she begged as she held her hand out, her body hidden in the shadows as she tried desperately to keep him from seeing her true form.  One night every year since she was thirteen, she’d changed into this creature, and every year she craved sex while in this form.  Not that it was the only time she craved sex, it was just that on Halloween it was different.  It was what drove her and everything she did on this night.

Charles stood staring at the gloved hand, wondering what Elsie had dressed up as.  She often disappeared on Halloween night, somehow managing to be excused from having to be present for the masquerade ball the family always had.  That led him to wondering what she was doing here.  Taking her hand, thinking that this year he might learn the truth of it all, he let her pull him into the darkened cupboard.  “Why are you in a cupboard?  And why are you wearing gloves?” he asked, then grunted in surprise when Elsie shoved him against the wall opposite the door, her mouth on his, hungrily kissing him.

Elsie couldn’t help herself.  She’d been lost in the crowd of partiers the family had invited just like she was every year (unbeknownst to them of course, thank god for masks), looking for her first target, when she’d caught a whiff of Charles in the air.  She didn’t know why this year was different, he was always present at the ball, but for some reason once she’d got his scent, it was Charles she had to have, not the good doctor who she’d finally settled on.  He’d been good in previous years, though this year she suspected he might not have been so willing to go with her for a good romp in an out of the way cupboard.

Charles pushed at Elsie’s shoulders, gasping for air when she stepped back.  “Elsie,” he hissed.  “Whatever in the world is wrong with you?”

“Don’t you want me, Charles?” she asked, ignoring his question, her hand brushing over the front of his trousers, feeling his obvious arousal.

Growling, Charles grabbed her hand.  “Damn it, woman.  We can’t do this.  Even if we could, I wouldn’t without some answers.”

Elsie hissed as she yanked her hand from his grasp.  “Fine.  I’ll go back to the Ball and find someone else.  The doctor has been a good fu,” she started, stopping when Charles growled and yanked her back to him.

“You’ve been with _that_ man?” he hissed, using all of his control not to boom as he usually would.

“I’ve been with a lot of men.  Lord Craven I think was waiting for me to approach him.  Maybe I’ll give him what he’s been wanting.  Or maybe Sir Williams.  He’s another good fu,” she started again, only to be stopped once more.

“Stop it, Elsie.  Stop it!”  Charles was trembling with rage as he pulled her back to him, crushing her in his arms.  “I want to see you.  I’ll give you what you want, but I want to see you first.”

“No.”

“If you want a good _fuck_ ,” he hissed the word, not liking it but giving in to the crudeness that seemed to permeate the atmosphere around him.  “I’ll give it to you and make you forget all others, but damn it, I want to see you.”

Growling deep in her chest, Elsie gave in, reaching out easily to flip the switch and flood the cupboard with light.  Staring up at Charles when she heard his sharp intake of breath, she shrugged.  “Now you see why I said no.”

Charles blinked several times before finally realizing he wasn’t seeing things.  Elsie Hughes was standing before him, hair white as snow, lips red as crimson, skin so pale it was translucent, in a dress…he groaned as his body reacted.  The dress was cut low enough her cleavage was visible, the tops of her full breasts nearly spilling out of the black cloth.  “How in the hell did you manage to get by with that?”

“It’s a costume, Charles.  You’ve seen some of the others.  Lady Lilly Wainwright is sure to fall out of hers while dancing.”  Elsie shook her head.  “My dress is what you’re worried about?” she asked him, astonishment lacing her voice, temporarily overriding her lust.

“Why are you dressed that way?  And what have you done to your skin and hair?”

“Charles, I’ve done nothing to my skin and hair.  This is who I really am.”  She shrugged.  “I can’t control it on Halloween.”

Eyes bulging a moment, Charles cleared his throat as he reached out, grasping her hand, peeling away the glove.  Dropping it to the floor, he tugged at the other one, dropping it on top of the other.  “What _are_ you, Elsie?” he asked as he studied her hands, different yet the same.

“There is no name for it in the English language,” she answered him quietly.  “I’ll let you go now, Charles.  I’ll hand in my letter tomorrow.  I won’t stay here now that you know the truth.”

Pulling her back to him, Charles stared down at her.  “Turn off the light if you want.  I’ll give you what you drug me in here for.  But Elsie,”

“Yes?”

“I want more answers later,” he told her as the light went out, the lust filling the room again when she pressed her body against his. 

“Touch me, Charles,” she breathed as she reached back and effortlessly released herself from her dress.  The bodice was a corset in and off itself, so she was bare underneath, and she shivered when she felt his clammy hand on her breast.  “That’s it.  Don’t be afraid.  I’m not fragile in this form, Charles.  I don’t want gentle.  I need rough and hard.  I need you to be just a man that takes what he wants.  Forget propriety and,” she paused, her voice huskier when she finished. “ _fuck_ me.”

Charles groaned, hesitating to give her what she asked until he felt her hand wrapping around him and tugging.  Pausing to briefly wonder when she’d undone his trousers, he shook his head and gave a guttural growl as he lifted her and turned, shoving her hard against the wall.

“Oh god, yes!” she cried out as her back slammed against the hard surface, Charles’ hard cock plunging inside her with one powerful thrust of his hips, her legs wrapping around his waist.  “Yes, Charles.  Just like that.  Hard and fast.  I can’t wait anymore.  I need to come.”

Her words, those vulgar phrases coming from the lips of his normally very proper housekeeper, set his blood boiling.  Her body clutching at his, her fingernails digging into his shoulders, urged him on.  He heard the sound of their flesh slapping together as he thrust wildly, the sound turning him on, making him give in to his baser needs.  He’d lusted after this woman from the first moment she’d walked in the servant’s door fifteen years ago and had spent many a night down through those years using his hand to relieve his raging arousal.  Now here he was, his cock buried deep inside her, the tight wetness gripping him, giving him more than he’d ever dreamed.

“Charles!”  Elsie cried out as she pushed aside his shirt, biting the base of his neck, her orgasm surging through her, giving her the high she’d been seeking since she’d changed five hours ago.  Feeling Charles grind against her, his thrusts shallow, she clamped her muscles around him, milking him, taking everything he had as he growled and buried his face in her neck, tongue flicking out to lick the perspiration from her skin.  The feel of his release filling her, set off another orgasm that she rode out with him, panting and laughing breathlessly when he cursed against her neck.

“Damn it all, Elsie.”

Elsie laughed again as she kissed him.  “When you can walk, I’ll help you tidy up so you can return to your duties.”

“I turned things over to Mr. Barrow.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s time he learns the rest of his job.  Why not use my under-butler to do the things I loathe?”

“You don’t like the Masquerade Ball?” she asked as he let her slowly slide to the floor, the skirt of her dress falling back around her ankles.

“No.”  Charles answered, then held her hips.  “You aren’t wearing anything under this dress.”

“You just noticed that?”  Elsie asked with a delighted laugh.

“Elsie,” he scolded.

She shrugged.  “I come to this party for one thing only, Charles.  The less I’m wearing, the less fuss it is to get what I want.”

“Oh god,” he groaned.

“Come on then.  Straighten yourself out then leave and make your way to the ruins.”

“Why?” he asked, his puzzled expression visible to her even in the dark.  “You can see me, can’t you?”  Charles asked when he realized she had no trouble moving about in the absence of light.

“Yes, I can.  Look toward where you hear my voice, Charles.”

Doing as she’d said, Charles blinked in surprise when he saw the blue glow of her eyes clearly in the blackness of the room.  “Why didn’t I see that before?”

“Because I didn’t allow you to.”

“Why do you want me to go to the ruins?”

“Because I need more, Charles.  Until sunup, I’ll need,” she shrugged.  “More.  I’ll need more.”

“Elsie, I’m not a young man.  I can’t.”

“You can, I promise.”

“You?”

“Yes, Charles.  I can grant you this.”

Finished making himself presentable, Charles blinked against the sudden brightness of the light.  “Elsie, what happens after tonight?”

“I go back to the housekeeper you’ve always known.”

“No.  You’ll never be the same to me.  But that’s not what I meant.  Us.  What happens to us?”

“What do you want to happen?  Do you want more of this?  More of me like this?”

“I want us.  I want whatever you want to give me.”

“Charles, I can give you anything you want.  Even this.”

“You can,” he blinked and cleared his throat, his body already starting to respond to the nearness of her and the thoughts flooding his mind.  “You can do this any time?  I thought,”

Elsie stopped him with a hand over his mouth.  “I said I couldn’t control it on Halloween.”

“Oh.”

“Go, Charles.”

“You’re not going to find another man before you join me, are you?”

“No.  You’re what I want.  I caught your scent earlier and from that moment, my mind and body were set on you.”

Kissing her hungrily, Charles growled against her ear.  “You’re mine, Elsie Hughes.  Mine.”

“Yours,” she assured him, smiling at him when he gave her one last look before closing the door.  Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, realizing that things had changed.  The way she and Charles had come together tonight meant that they were forever bonded.  He would live as long as she, though that was something she would wait to tell him.  Her grandmother had warned her about mating with a man when his scent had caught you.  Told her that it was dangerous.

As she walked out of the cupboard, she shrugged.  She didn’t give a damn if it was dangerous.  She wanted Charles, always had if she was honest, and she was going to have him.  She’d awakened his inner needs and wants tonight, he’d be craving her all the time after she was finished with him.

“And that’s just how it should be with _my_ man.”

**Author's Note:**

> As for what Elsie is...don't know that either. I might come back to this and add more to it. Maybe add what happens the day after.


End file.
